Death is 23rd homicide of 2017, five ahead of 2016

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say the gunfire that killed a Struthers man early Tuesday in a North Side parking lot was unusual.

The reason is that the shot or shots were fired from quite a distance by a handgun, said Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives.

“For a handgun, it was a pretty distant shot,” Blackburn said.

The victim, Jerry Franklin, 26, of Garfield Street, Struthers, was found about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday face down in the parking lot of the Logan Avenue Gas Mart, 1704 Logan Ave., when police arrived to investigate a gunfire call.

Franklin’s death is the 23rd homicide of 2017, five ahead of 2016, and second since Saturday, when 19-year-old Tyler Kitchen was shot in a parking lot at Belmont Avenue and Wirt Street and later died. Police said Kitchen was shot by someone he was trying to rob.

Blackburn said Franklin was a passenger in a car that pulled into the gas station. Franklin had stayed with the car while the other people with him went inside. When they came out of the gas station, they heard gunfire, Blackburn said.

The gunman was on Saranac Avenue quite a distance away from the parking lot, Blackburn said. Blackburn said it is unusual for someone to be killed from a round fired from a handgun that is not close because long guns are better known for their accuracy. He also said bullets fired from long guns have more stopping power than a handgun round.

“It was a very unlucky shot for the victim,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn said detectives are trying to figure out if the gunfire was meant for Franklin, someone else or was random. An autopsy also is needed to see how many times Franklin was shot, Blackburn said. He said investigators at the scene could not determine how many bullets struck Franklin.

“We don’t know if he [Franklin] was the intended target,” Blackburn said.

Franklin was at a gas pump when he was shot, police said.

Court records show Franklin was charged in 2014 with fifth-degree felony counts of possession of heroin and possession of cocaine, respectively. He entered a plea of intervention in lieu of conviction – which means if he completed court requirements for a specific period of time, the charges would be dropped – but that plea was revoked and he was instead sentenced to two years’ probation. Court records do not show why the plea was revoked.

Franklin violated his probation, however, and was sentenced to 90 days jail in 2016. Again, court records do not show how Franklin violated his probation.

Blackburn said police do not yet have any suspects.